Unlike pharmaceuticals that are designed to create very specific chemical reactions in the body to relieve the designated symptom, Chinese Medicine treats the underlying root cause of the symptom with natural herbs and is prescribed to create a change in the body’s current state so that the symptom can be relieved. The effective components of the herbs need to build up in the body, in many cases over a matter of weeks, before the results are achieved. The change is often subtle as patients gradually experience improvement of overall health of the root cause, which gently treats the targeted symptoms. As such, compared to pharmaceuticals, Chinese Medicine is less likely to cause side effects and drug addition.